The Department of Defense is like no other part of the federal government. For one thing, it's actually constitutionally justified. For another, it is the wall that protects America (yes, walls really do work) against foreign threats; as a famous movie quote has it, "In this world, there are walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns." The Department of Defense is responsible for recruiting, training, and equipping those men. To that end, the mission of those men (and women) is this, above and beyond anything else: to close with and destroy the enemy through fire, maneuver, and shock effect. Their purpose is to ensure and protect the liberty and property of the people of the United States of America. Anything that promotes that mission is good. Anything that impedes it is bad.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gets that, having been a warfighter himself. But he also — correctly — understands that this essential purpose doesn't excuse the Department of Defense from fiscal responsibility, or from accounting for the taxpayer dollars they receive. To that end, Secretary Hegseth has committed to the Pentagon passing a clean fiscal audit within four years.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday committed to getting the Pentagon to pass a clean audit within four years after the Defense Department failed several in a row.

During a town hall with defense staffers, Hegseth said that he will ensure the Pentagon “at a bare minimum” passes a clean audit by the end of the current administration.

“The American taxpayers deserve that,” he continued. “They deserve to know where their $850 billion dollars go, how it’s spent, and make sure it’s spent wisely.”

This is correct. The most essential federal activity, and there can be little doubt that the armed forces are among, if not the single most essential federal activity, must still account to the taxpayers for where every dollar has gone.

The Pentagon failed its seventh audit in November, though officials claimed at the time they made strides toward the goal of a clean audit in 2028. Around half of the agencies passed and half failed in the audit.

The Pentagon has not passed a clean audit since it became legally obligated to in 2018, even as the budget has soared and is approaching a trillion dollars.

The Marines have been an exception, with the military branch announcing this week a clean audit for its $49 billion in financial assets.

Good for the Marines — but (and I say this as an old Army type) much as we kid each other, the Marines have always had a reputation for keeping their web-footed fowl arranged in a linear fashion.

Nearly a trillion dollars of taxpayer money is being spent by the Pentagon every year. Every dollar must be accounted for, not just to ensure that it's all spent, but spent properly; nothing on gender theory or DEI nonsense, all on training, equipment, logistics, and all of the activities and materials the armed forces need to find bad guys, anywhere in the world, and permanently revoke their birth certificates. We can have accountability and readiness; we must have accountability and readiness.

See Related: Gotta Love It: Pentagon Changes to Media Offices Cause Meltdowns on the Left

President Trump, SecDef Pete Hegseth See Military Recruitment Go Through the Roof on Their Watch

Watch Secretary Hegseth's remarks here:

20250207 WASHINGTON
Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) Pete Hegseth Held a Town Hall Meeting With Military and Civilian Personnel at the Pentagon. The Q &A Session With the SECDEF Was Not Aired. Attendees Appeared To Be Very Attentive as to what SECDEF Had to Say. pic.twitter.com/GuMgRGJylb

— Robert Waloven (@comlabman) February 7, 2025

In January of 1991, while running around in-theater during Operation Desert Storm, I was amazed at the gargantuan Army logistical machine that made sure that beans, bullets, and gas, along with all the millions of other things an army needs to run, got (for the most part) where they needed to be. If the Army can manage an enterprise of that size, they can account for where the citizen's money is going.